A fierce row in the Lok Sabha over a Minister's comments on the Nehru-Gandhi family and a Congress leader calling him a chhokra (boy) led to the first adjournment in this parliament session, which is being held with unprecedented changes because of the coronavirus crisis.
The row erupted when Union Minister Anurag Thakur spoke out in defence of the PM-CARES fund, which the opposition says lacks transparency.
"From the high court to the Supreme Court, every court has validated the PM-CARES fund. Little children have contributed to it from their piggy banks. Nehru set up a fund that has not been registered to date. You (Congress) only made a trust for the benefit of the Gandhi family. You made Sonia Gandhi its chairman. It should be investigated," said Anurag Thakur.
His remarks provoked a roar of protests from the opposition benches, specifically Congress MPs. The house was adjourned soon after.
The Rajya Sabha has passed the Homeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in Rajya Sabha said today: "A member of the House called the reform and regulation of the Indian systems of medicine being undertaken through the bills, as promoting 'quackery'. I am pained by the use of this word."
The Lok Sabha passed two bills on Thursday related to "reforms" in agriculture marketing after a debate with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar stating that the legislations will "end licence raj" and farmers will be free to sell their agricultural produce according to their choice. The bills will now be tabled in Rajya Sabha and become laws after the Upper House also passes them.
Akali Dal's lone Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet on Thursday as her party faced heat from farmers over its initial support to ally BJP's farm sector bills. Ms Badal, who attended the cabinet meet that cleared the bills, stepped down shortly before the bills were passed by the Lok Sabha.
The Produce Trade and Commerce and the Price Assurance and Farm Services bills sailed through Lok Sabha as the opposition parties walked out. The Lok Sabha had earlier passed a bill to amend the Essential Commodities Act.
